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 A birth certificate and identity documents issued by a judge in
2001 show that Jose Aguinelo dos Santos, a resident of the Vila
Vicentina shelter for the elderly in Bauru, Brazil, was born on July
7, 1888, less than two months after the end of slavery in the
country, said Cesar Siqueira, the rest home's vice president.
While Dos Santos has none of the original documents proving his age,
interest in his life has increased since the death on June 8 of
Alexander Imich in New York, Siqueira said.
Imich lived to age 111, according to CNN, which reported that he was
certified as the world's oldest man in April by the Gerontology
Research Group of Torrance, California.
 Siqueira said Dos Santos' documents were granted by a judge based on
interviews with the presumed centenarian.
"We are only saying this is his presumed age," said Siqueira, who
has worked at the rest home for 31 years. "But he is lucid, can
speak well and does just about everything by himself every day
except bathe himself."
Dos Santos has lived at Vila Vicentina, a rest home that takes care
of the poor and indigent, since 1973. He was born to a former slave
in a quilombo, or Afro-Brazilian community founded by runaway
slaves, and moved to Sao Paulo state where he worked as a laborer on
farms and coffee plantations, Siqueira said.
Dos Santos was not immediately available for comment.
As of June 25, the oldest living man was Sakari Momoi of Japan at
111 years and 140 days, while the oldest living woman was Misao
Okawa, also of Japan, at 116 years and 112 days, according to the
Gerontology Research Group.
No one but the judge who interviewed Dos Santos in 2001 has
certified his age, Siqueira said. Vila Vicentina is trying to get
more records from archives in the northeastern state of Ceará and
the rest home's managers have spoken with doctors and others about
the possibility of using methods such as carbon dating to narrow
down the date of birth, he added.
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Until recently, many Brazilians born in remote rural areas had no
formal documents.
"The only thing I won't allow is something that will hurt Jose
Aguinelo," Siqueira said. "We are, though, sure he is very old, and
so is he."
Photos of Dos Santos and his documents were published on Sunday on
Brazil's G1 news website after journalists visited the rest home in
Bauru, about 275 kilometers (170 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo city.
If his birth date can be confirmed, it will show that Dos Santos was
born a little more than a year before Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II
was deposed and the modern Brazilian Republic proclaimed. At that
time, Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire and Grover Cleveland
was president of the United States.
(Reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Jan Paschal)
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